The present invention relates generally to agricultural hoppers, and more particularly, to agricultural hoppers of the type having separate compartments for two different materials such as seed and fertilizer.
Grain drills, seeders and other similar types of implements often include a hopper having two separate compartments for containing two materials such as seed grain and fertilizer. Such hoppers are commonly fabricated by welding and/or bolting sheet metal panels in a tank configuration on an implement frame. Such are available with adjustable hopper partitions which divide the two compartments and which can be adjusted to vary the relative capacity of the two compartments. The sheet metal construction is relatively expensive, primarily because a relatively long fabrication time is required to assemble the panels on the support frame. Metal hoppers are relatively bulky and heavy and subject to water leakage problems and corrosion, particularly in the compartment which contains the fertilizer. Hopper shapes are limited to those which may be easily formed in the sheet metal. As a result, the hoppers can be less than pleasing to the eye. Tanks with compartments of unequal volume are often unsymmetrical. With some tank construction, inadvertent mixing of two materials is a common problem because of the close proximity of the material input areas for the compartments.
The material outlets for the separate tank compartments are usually spaced in close proximity to each other to accommodate conventional seed and fertilizer metering structure. Bridging and non-free flowing of the material adjacent the compartment outlets is a common problem. In hopper structure where two compartments are joined together, the interface can permit water to drip downwardly into the meter area to cause blockage or corrosion.